TV
The Orissa High Court directed the Odisha government to revise the seniority and gradation list of Assistant Section Officers (ASOs) in the Odisha Secretariat Service.
The ruling settles a long-running dispute over inter-seniority among ASOs appointed through different recruitment drives and between promotees and direct recruits.
The case involved ten writ petitions grouped into two categories. The first group concerned two sets of direct recruits: 140 candidates from OPSC Advertisement No. 06 dated May 14, 2015 (ST category), and 811 candidates from Advertisement No. 08 issued on October 6, 2012.
The second group addressed the seniority conflict between promoted officers and direct recruits.
Despite Advertisement No. 08 being older, its appointments were delayed until October 2016 due to legal and administrative hurdles.
Meanwhile, candidates under the 2015 advertisement were appointed earlier, on January 27 and May 18, 2016.
Orissa High Court's Key Observations
On June 3, the High Court, hearing the matter through its vacation bench, ruled that seniority should be determined by the actual date of appointment, not the date of advertisement or selection, unless specific rules suggest otherwise.
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Impact on ASOs and Government Action
The verdict affects hundreds of ASOs whose placements in the final gradation list published on June 11, 2020, did not reflect their actual appointment dates.
The court ordered that ASOs appointed earlier under Advertisement No. 06 must be ranked above those appointed later under Advertisement No. 08.
It also directed that promotees should be considered en bloc senior to direct recruits of the same calendar year.
Meanwhile, the court also instructed the Odisha Home Department to revise the gradation list accordingly, bringing relief to affected ASOs while also setting a legal precedent that in government service, earlier appointment must translate into earlier seniority.
